Hogwarts' Horror Virus Weeks
by Healer Pomfrey
Summary: The whole school comes down with the Thestral virus. Will Pomfrey and a few people including Harry, who are supposed to be immunized, manage to save everyone in spite of Trelawney's prediction? Completely AU, partly OOC, Rating because of deathly virus.


**Hogwarts' Horror Virus Weeks**

A heavy snow mantle embraced the castle on that fateful afternoon in early December when the sixth year Gryffindors attended their Transfiguration class together with the Slytherins. Professor McGonagall threw concerned looks to the so-called Golden Trio sitting in the first row. Hermione Granger's cheeks were deeply flushed and dark rings surrounded her eyes.

"Ms. Granger, please stay back for a moment," McGonagall ordered the sixth year when she dismissed the class.

"Yes Professor?" Hermione asked, shivering badly when McGonagall placed a cool hand on her forehead.

"Ms. Granger, you're burning up. Why didn't you go to see Madam Pomfrey with such a high fever?"

"I didn't want to miss my classes," the girl replied, averting her eyes to the window, outside of which snowflakes were performing an icy dance. "It's probably just a cold."

"No, it's definitely not a cold, and since the last afternoon class is over, I'm going to take you to the hospital wing," the Gryffindor Head of House said sternly, pulling the sick child with her to Madam Pomfrey's domain.

"41.1 (106) degrees," Madam Pomfrey gasped and worriedly cast a diagnostic spell at the child, before she let out an even louder gasp, and a terrified expression spread over her normally calm face.

"What is it, Poppy?" Minerva queried nervously, knowing that nothing could easily shake her friend to such an extent.

"The Thestral virus," Pomfrey mouthed, throwing her friend a terrified look. "Minerva, we have to call the Heads of House and the Headmaster here instantly. Please do that for me; I have to give Ms. Granger a fever reducer. Call Severus first please, because he needs to brew a lot of potions. The whole school is going to come down with this." She quickly transfigured Hermione's bed into a bathtub to cool her down.

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Five minutes later, the teachers, whom the Mediwitch had requested to see, were assembled in Pomfrey's office. "Severus, we have the Thestral virus at Hogwarts. How many doses of the Therelief potion do you have ready?" Pomfrey enquired, coming straight to the point, ignoring the Headmaster's offer of a lemon drop.

"Ten doses," Snape replied shortly.

"That means that ten people can take the potion, and they will remain healthy and can look after a few hundred sick students?" the Headmaster enquired.

"Yes," Pomfrey confirmed. "All six of us need to take the potion, and we should choose four students, perhaps one of each House, to help us."

"Ms. Granger would have been the best to help," McGonagall sighed. "Well, I'll choose Harry then."

"All right, Minerva, fetch him please," Pomfrey instructed her, before she asked hurriedly, "Severus, whom do you choose? You have to get the student as well as the potions here quickly."

"Draco Malfoy," Snape replied smoothly and stepped into the fireplace.

Sprout and Flitwick chose Susan Bones and Luna Lovegood, and both teachers hurried to fetch their students.

When everyone was assembled in her office, Pomfrey made them drink one of the potions Snape had brought, gulping down one as well, before she quickly explained everything about the virus. "Everyone is likely to get ill. The incubation period is three days, so that there will still be a few healthy students, who could help us over the first few days. The illness lasts about three weeks. The patients get a very high fever, horrible headaches, and their skin will become transparent. The dangerous point with this illness is the fever. It has to be constantly monitored. As soon as it exceeds 41 (106) degrees, the bed must be transformed into a bathtub, until the fever comes down at least a degree. When their skin becomes transparent, it will hurt at any touch, so that they won't be able to endure their bed covers. You have to drape wet bath towels over their bodies in order to be able to cover them with the bed covers."

Pomfrey let out a deep sigh. "Albus, you must look after the Slytherins together with Mr. Malfoy, since Severus has to brew many batches of potions. The students need the Thestral virus potion as well as a fever reducer every two hours. I'll go around and help where help is needed. Severus, you should gather a few healthy students from all houses and make them help you with the brewing."

"Poppy, it's impossible for two persons to look after the whole tower. We should bring all the sick students into the Great Hall and just put them in beds next to each other, indifferently of their House," the Potions Master contradicted in a soft voice, causing everyone to sigh in relief.

"That sounds much better," Harry agreed.

"All right then, let's head down to dinner, and I'll inform the school. After dinner, I'm going to ask the house elves to prepare the Great Hall accordingly," the Headmaster concluded the meeting.

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When everyone had finished their desserts, Dumbledore rose from his seat to make his announcement.

"Dear students; unfortunately, a dangerous virus has breached our wards, the Thestral virus, which is probably going to affect all of you. The illness is not life threatening, provided that it is treated properly, and the earlier it is detected, the faster is the recovery. From now on, you will take all meals in your Houses, and everyone, who notices that he or she is feeling sick or gets a headache or a fever, has to come to the Great Hall, which will be our hospital wing for the time being, immediately. Those, who are still healthy, are welcome to help us caring for the others. We're going to need all help we can get. Tonight and tomorrow, all healthy students from fifth year upwards, who have an 'O' in Potions, are asked to help Professor Snape brew many batches of the potion for the virus. All classes will be cancelled until further notice."

On the first evening, ten students from all Houses joined Hermione in the Great Hall. Over the next day, more than one hundred sick students came, complaining to feel ill. Nearly all of them were already spiking a dangerously high fever, and the four students and the Heads of House remained extremely busy over the whole day.

Harry had to look after fifteen students in one row in the middle of the Great Hall, until late in the evening, Professor Snape arrived and told him, "Get some sleep, Mr. Potter; I'll look after them for a few hours."

Harry threw the professor a questioning glance, but seeing by the Potions Master's expression that he seemed to mean it, he lay down on the next empty bed, already falling asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. A few hours later, Harry woke up to a heavy thunderstorm raging above the Great Hall and quickly got up, knowing that they all had to take turns sleeping.

At first, they had tried to divide the students and lead the girls to one side of the Great Hall and the boys to the other side, but when the next one hundred and fifty students arrived on the third day, the helpers just motioned them over to any free beds in order to check on them as fast as possible.

Harry sighed as he sat down on the edge of Ginny's bed and carefully stuck a thermometer under her tongue. While they were waiting for the reading, he gently wiped her hot face with a cool cloth, speaking to her in a soothing voice. "40.5 (105)," he sighed. "I'm sorry, Ginny, but you have to stay here for a while," he said gently, softly stroking her flushed cheeks, before he slid a wrist band over her left hand that would continuously display her temperature on a magical monitor. A monitor was positioned over the head of all beds, displaying the temperature in different colours, so that all the helpers would be alerted by blinking red numbers if it became dangerously high in case the two persons responsible for the row were just busying themselves elsewhere. Harry then gently helped Ginny to sit up and drink the potions, resolving that he'd practise the spell to put a potion straight into someone's system as soon as he had time. "Please call me, if you need me, Ginny," he said softly, before he hurried to hand thermometers out to his next five patients.

'_I should take so much time for everyone and try to comfort them, but when they come in large groups, I can't do that_,' he mused, feeling bad for his sick classmates. '_Maybe I'll have time to sit with some of them for a few minutes later on_,' he tried to console himself as he slid a wrist band over Ron's hand.

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A week later, all students except for the four, who had taken the potion together with the Heads of House, were ill, just like all the other teachers, except for Hagrid, who seemed to be immune against the virus. Even Professor Trelawney was ill and predicted the death of a Gryffindor sixth year student, before Harry was finally able to make her take her temperature. Harry became more tired by the day, although Professor Snape, who was taking care of the row of beds together with Harry, told him every evening to sleep for a few hours, before he would sleep a bit too.

One day, he woke up with a bad headache and felt hot and cold at the same time. '_Oh no! Maybe the potion didn't work for me, and I'm getting it now_,' he mused, horrified and remained a few minutes longer in bed, pondering, '_So, that's how it feels to get the virus_,' while he watched the snowflakes playing at the ceiling of the Great Hall. Finally, he dragged himself out of bed and hesitantly spoke to Snape about his concern.

The teacher threw him a worried look, placing a cool hand on Harry's forehead, before he shook his head. "I don't think so, Mr. Potter. You seem to have a fever, but it's not high enough for the virus. Lie down here and let me check on you."

Harry anxiously returned to the bed he had occupied over the last few hours, and Snape stuck a thermometer under his tongue, while he gripped Harry's wrist, looking at his watch for a short while. "38.8 (101.8) degrees," he finally read from the display. "That's not the virus, but nevertheless, you're going to stay in bed for a while. Are you in some kind of pain?"

"My head hurts a bit, well quite a lot in fact," he admitted at the professor's piercing look, "but it's all right. I'm going to help. I don't feel so bad; I just wanted to be sure that it wasn't the virus."

Snape motioned Harry to stay put and called Pomfrey over, who waved her wand over Harry. "Mr. Potter, you have to take more breaks, and you must eat more. Severus, he needs a fever reducer, a headache potion, and a sleeping draught. Harry, you're going to stay in this bed until Professor Snape allows you to get up."

Snape fed Harry the requested potions, and Harry drifted off to sleep within seconds, barely noticing that the Potions Master slid a wrist band over his left hand. When Harry woke up a few hours later, he felt much better and got up, not bothering about waiting for Snape to release him. "What happened?" he asked McGonagall, seeing that Snape wasn't there but everyone else was very subdued.

"Mr. Longbottom is in a critical condition," McGonagall told him, and Harry noticed terrified that tears were welling in the professor's eyes.

"How could that happen?" he asked, horrified, noticing that Pomfrey, Snape, and the Headmaster were bent over a bed at the far end of the room.

"His fever spiked rapidly, and before anyone could run to him fast enough... Well, I just hope Madam Pomfrey will be able to save him." The teacher couldn't hold back her tears anymore. On top of the tiredness, the shock about possibly losing one of her little lions, made her lose her poise.

Harry gently laid an arm around the teacher's back, and said softly, "I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will be able to save Neville. She's absolutely brilliant. I'm sorry that I wasn't there to help over the last few hours." Inwardly, he began to panic. '_Oh no! I can't lose Neville. He's one of my best friends_.'

"Thank you, Harry. I'm glad you're up again, although I don't know if Madam Pomfrey would approve it. Professor Snape is helping Poppy. I hope he'll return shortly too."

"Okay, Professor. Why don't you lie down and take a rest for a while? I'm going to watch your bed over the next hours," Harry promised and busied himself looking after his patients, until Snape came with the relieving news that Neville would be all right. The teacher tried to send him back to bed, pointing out that he was still running a temperature.

"No Professor, one of my best friends nearly died, because there weren't enough people to look after all the students, while I was asleep. I'll stay here and help you, sir," he said firmly, ignoring the teacher's frown after a glance at his wrist band.

Fortunately, there weren't any more dangerous cases like Neville's, and two weeks later, the first students slowly recovered. Since only two weeks were left until the winter holidays, Dumbledore decided that all students, who were released by Madam Pomfrey, could return home for the holidays.

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Two days before the official beginning of the winter holidays, the last student was released, and Dumbledore thanked the helpers profusely for their work. They had managed to care for all the students, and everyone had survived the dangerous illness. He handed Luna, Susan, and Draco Portkeys, so that they could return home as well. He even offered Harry a Portkey, who declined vehemently.

"Mr. Potter, are you feeling all right?" Snape queried all of a sudden.

Harry slightly shook his head, turning his eyes to the teacher, with whom he had been working together so well over the last few weeks. "I feel like I felt a few weeks ago when I had a headache and a slight fever. Maybe I need some sleep," he admitted in a small voice.

Snape stepped over to Harry, placing a cool hand on his forehead, and gasped. "Poppy, he's burning up this time."

Pomfrey quickly waved her wand at the child and groaned, shaking her head in disbelief. "It's the virus. Do any of you feel unwell too?"

Everyone shook their heads. "I'm afraid we can't let you go home yet," Dumbledore turned to the three other students, while Snape scooped Harry up into his arms and carried him to the hospital wing, followed closely by Madam Pomfrey and all the others.

Pomfrey stepped into the fireplace, shouting, "St. Mungo's!" Half an hour later, she was back and explained, "The Therelief potion, which we took, only works for people, who already had the wizard's measles or are immunized against it. For all others, it merely prolongs the incubation period up to a month. Don't ask me why that is so, but my colleagues at the hospital were sure about it. Did you all have the wizard's measles or received your immunization?"

All the students and teachers nodded, and Pomfrey released everyone, sighing in relief, before she turned to Harry and transfigured his bed into a bathtub. Over the next three weeks, Harry was very ill, but every time he woke up, Professors McGonagall, Snape, or Madam Pomfrey were sitting next to him, caring for him and trying to make him feel better. One day when he woke up, seeing that the hospital wing was flooded with weak but beautiful rays of the December sun, even all three of them were sitting with him, telling him that it was Christmas day.

In spite of feeling absolutely horrible, Harry threw the three adults a genuine smile. Never before in his life had he felt being so cared for.

**The End**

_All recognizable characters belong to Mrs. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story. I'm not a native speaker of English; so please excuse my mistakes or help me correct them. Thank you :-)  
_


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